Sorry guys. I've been really sick lately, and
I wasn't able to write. Even now, I'm not feeling well enough to
write much. Enjoy what I have.

Sakura looks from
Sasuke to the figure. "Sasuke, you can't stay here alone-"

"Just go, okay?!"
He doesn't look at her.

"…." She turns
and leaves him.

"Itachi, I know it's
you. So come out of hiding, yowamiso (coward)."

"Brother…"
Sasuke hears Itachi's evil voice from the darkness.

"Aniki…!"
Sasuke grits his teeth with anger. "It was you who did this,
wasn't it?"

"No."

"No?" Sasuke asks
in disbelief.

"It wasn't me,
ototo."

"You're lying!"

"If I was, then I
wouldn't look like this, would I?"

He finally reveals
himself. When he steps out of the shadows, Sasuke gasps.

"You…you're
a…cat!" Itachi is a black cat like Sasuke, except his paws are
purplish, and there are lines under each of his eyes. "But…how?
I thought…I thought you did it!"

"Feh. …I didn't
do it, the other members of Akatsuki did." He pauses to look at
Sasuke's facial expression, then continues. "They used me as a
test subject without my knowing first. They…Kisame…put the
solution in my drink."

Sasuke stares at him
for a while, not knowing if he should believe him, or if this is just
another one of his disguises. But he looks really angry at being
betrayed. So, Sasuke makes a point of snickering at him gleefully in
his head.

"So now you know how
it feels to be betrayed like that."

"…." Itachi
glares at him. "Listen, I'll…we have to help each other turn
back."

"What? No way!"
Sasuke hisses angrily at him. "I'll never help you!"

"I love working with
you, too. But if we don't, there's no way we'll ever get back
to normal. Kisame won't give me the antidote because he wants to
'observe me more'. But if we could find out what it's made
from and create some of our own…"

"Woah, slow down.
One – you expect me to trust you? Two – you think you can just
walk back into my life, and everything will be fine? And three –
you assume I'm going to work with you? How do I know this isn't
just a bunch of crap?"

Itachi is silent.
"You don't have to trust me if you don't want to, but we will
never find a way to return to normal by ourselves."

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